Chamber and committees

All Health Boards should have appropriate arrangements in place to ensure co-ordination of care for patients across primary, community and hospital health care services. This includes patients with a terminal illness.

To date the Scottish Government has provided over £342,000, of which, £125,000 was provided this financial year, in funding to the Royal College of General Practitioners “Primary Care Secondary Care Interface” project. The project is considering ways to improve this co-ordination and interface working arrangements. The College is working with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and Health Boards on this project.

The responses to the consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland's homes are currently being analysed, and a report on the feedback received will be published in due course.

I have asked Janet Egdell, Interim Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

National Records of Scotland (NRS) have today published: ‘Scotland’s Census 2022: Health, disability and unpaid care’. This is the final topic release from Scotland’s Census 2022. Later in 2024, NRS will publish multivariate data. This means we will publish tables which include more than one census topic variable. More detail about the schedule for future reports can be found here.

Scotland’s Census results are designated as Accredited Official Statistics and form an integral part of the statistical system in the UK. The Office for Statistics Regulation, the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, awards Accredited Official Statistics designation based on the quality, good practice and comprehensiveness of official statistics.

The Scottish Government has today published a consultation seeking views on allowing proxy voting by councillors. The consultation is available at - http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781836018704

Page 161 of the ‘Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland: 2022 Report to Parliament’ by the Climate Change Committee (Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland 2022 Report to Parliament (theccc.org.uk)) contains the following recommendation:

“Legislate the Circular Economy Bill and set targets to reduce waste and improve recycling rates beyond 2025, ensuring these are more ambitious than existing targets. Targets should be set on the basis of separate waste streams (rather than 'All waste') and where possible consider carbon-based metrics”

Under devolution, consequentials of this kind become part of the Scottish Government’s overall budget for that year. As part of the Scottish Budget process, it is for Scottish Ministers to propose funding levels for specific programmes in Scotland, and when the budget is required.

In the case of cladding remediation, we have said that we will spend whatever is necessary to address the problems created by unsafe cladding, that we will make provision for that at the appropriate time, and that we expect the cost of that in Scotland to be at least the quoted amount of consequentials – that is, £97.1 m.

We publish updated information on programme spend on a quarterly basis at https://www.gov.scot/publications/single-building-assessment-spending-information/.

I appreciate the concerns that have been raised by the culture sector. Funding for the culture sector has increased this financial year, as the first step to achieving the First Minister’s commitment to invest at least £100 million more annually in culture and the arts by 2028-29.

I understand the Scottish Music Industry Association’s concerns and have restated the Scottish Government’s continued commitment to supporting the arts. I was also pleased that following a period of necessary due diligence the £3m funds for Creative Scotland’s Open Fund have now been released and Creative Scotland are due to reopen this fund on 8 October.

I have also agreed to meet with the Scottish Music Industry Association to further understand the concerns held by the sector and its musicians.

Menstrual health and wellbeing education is a key part of relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education. RSHP education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the Scottish curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence. Learning about RSHP education begins early on in primary school and continues right up to S4-S6. RSHP education is delivered in an age and stage appropriate manner and is intended to enable children and young people to build positive relationships as they grow older. Schools will equip young people with information on a wide range of issues, including menstrual health and wellbeing, depending on their age and stage of learning. Learning should present facts in an objective, balanced and sensitive manner within a framework of sound values and an awareness of the law.

An online RSHP teaching resource, (www.rshp.scot) was published in 2019 and provides age and stage appropriate learning activities on RSHP education for use in all education settings and is aligned to Curriculum for Excellence. This resource includes learning activities on menstruation from second level (P5 to P7), with endometriosis introduced at third/fourth level (S1 to S3).

The RSH teaching resource was subject to a significant review and refresh in 2023 to ensure it remained up-to-date and fit for purpose. Teachers continue to access the resource regularly.

Successive Scottish budgets have demonstrated Scotland’s commitment to addressing the climate change crisis, using all resources at our disposal to accelerate the just transition to a net zero, climate-resilient and biodiverse Scotland. The 2024-25 Budget committed £4.7 billion for activities with a positive impact on our climate change goals.

Use of ScotWind revenue is an action we would rather not take but must carefully consider given the fiscal challenges faced and the limited options available under existing fiscal framework arrangements. We will seek to minimise usage of ScotWind in 2024-25 – just as we did in 2023-24.

The decision relates to uncommitted marketing spend, however, Visit Scotland will continue to maximise the impact of its £43.6 million budget through use of its own and partner channels, including relationships with travel intermediaries, to attract domestic and international visitors to Scotland.

The number of people visiting Scotland is subject to different variables, including the state of the global economy. Scottish Government will work closely with VisitScotland to track and report performance.